College Basketball - Big 12

Big 12 vs SEC, Ken Johnson of Hoopszone sent me an email and made this comment. “My general take is that all conferences wax and wane from year to year, and if you take a long enough period (say a decade or more), they probably all average out to be about the same.  There's a lot of parity in recent years.  For example, all the preseason mags this fall say that the SEC is way down and the Big 12 is way up.  It wasn't that long ago that the reverse was true, was it?” I’ll try to answer that question and more.

It's All About AccuracyOther than one person, I’m not sure the Chiefs have anyone who is Pro Bowl material. I’m not even sure they have anyone who could sniff being in the Pro Bowl. However, there is an individual on this team that is the best at his position in 2009. He’s been one of the best for several years. He gets little notice, little publicity, little praise. He’s a big part of every game and he’s overdue for respect. If you don’t already realize it, by the time you are done reading, I think you will understand why.

High Tech RecruitingYesterday, I spelled out the basis for this study. If you didn’t read it, I would encourage you to do so before you dissect the results. But whether you do or not, this is the most exhaustive analysis I can imagine for determining who had the best recruiting classes in 2009. As you will see, the Big 12 has three of the top 7 classes – not bad for a “football” conference.

High Tech RecruitingAs promised, I am going to present the top teams by recruiting class for 2009. I waited much longer than I anticipated because Lance Stephenson took forever to make a decision. As it turns out, he’s going to Cincinnati and he’s the only meaningful recruit they have, so it wouldn’t have mattered. Nevertheless, I wanted to make sure all the recruiting was done before I posted this.

Stern and GriffinAs you know, Blake Griffin was the easy #1 pick by the LA Clippers on Thursday night. Unfortunately, for Griffin, the Clippers are a place where good players go to die. Once they won the NBA lottery, I wrote about Griffin’s misfortune. And, yesterday’s cool factoid says it all. “The Clippers have drafted only one future All-Star in the last 20 years - Antonio McDyess - and they traded him on draft night!” Of course, the Clips took Danny Manning...

During his winningest seasonAs I’m sure you know, Tisdale died today of cancer. I’m not sure what most people think of first when they think of him. For me it’s simple – his freshman year of college (Oklahoma). I’ve been a passionate Big8/Big12 fan my whole life. And, of course, basketball is my middle name. So, when Tisdale exploded onto the scene, his accomplishments seemed surreal. He was as close to Chamberlain II as you could get at the time.

Wayman Tisdale always put on a happy face.I have never been anything close to a fan of the Oklahoma Sooners, but nevertheless Wayman Tisdale is one of my all-time favorite basketball players. So the news of his passing is particularly sad. There are few college players, or pro players for that matter, that played the game with such apparent joy. That soft, lefty, turnaround jumper is forever engrained in the minds of anyone who followed Big Eight hoops in the 1980s. Tisdale of course went on to have a fine pro career as well. Then, as if that weren't enough, he went on to have a wonderful career in jazz music. You'll see a lot of pictures of Tisdale over the next few days and in most of them, he'll have that wide smile that was more than an expression -- it was what defined him as a public figure. For someone with so much to offer, 44 years just doesn't seem to be enough. However, we'd all be fortunate to accomplish as much as an athlete, as an artist or as a husband and father as Wayman did in his four 1/2 decades. Rest easy, big fella.

F4There are a four things I want to discuss regarding the Final Four. As always, most of the stuff I present, I doubt you will find anywhere else in the universe. That either means 1) nobody else cares, 2) nobody else thought of it or 3) nobody else has such a sophisticated bunch of smart readers. I’m banking on #3.

Betting on the NCAA TournamentThe Big 12 went 6-0 in the first round, 3-3 in the second round, 2-1 in the third round and 0-2 in round #4. However, evaluating how they did against the line is the best objective measurement by which we can determine if the Big 12 has done as well as it should have.

Betting on the NCAA TournamentThe Big 12 went 6-0 in the first round, 3-3 in the second round and 2-1 in the third round. Of course, if you are a KU fan, that’s as much as you care to know. Still, the issue I find most interesting is how the teams did against the line. That’s an objective measurement by which we can determine if the Big 12 has done as well as it should have.

Consistency is a GOOD thing!A recent reply caused me to scratch an itch I have had all season – that being which players are the most consistent – at least among those at KU, KSU and MU. Having kept the stats for KU and KSU all year, I suspect the Wildcat players are considerably more inconsistent than the KU or MU players. But, in order to prove it, there has to be a valid method by which to evaluate them.

How are we doing after two rounds?The Big 12 went 6-0 in the first round and 3-3 in the second round. That might seem a little disappointing for the second round, but all three losses were expected. The real issue is how the teams did against the line. That’s an objective measurement by which we can determine if the Big 12 has done as well as it should have. And, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m going to tell you the answer.

Betting on the NCAA TournamentOf course, any BIG 12 fan knows the conference went 6-0 in the first round. That’s the best in the country – a welcome relief from the post season football downer of a few months ago. But, what you may not know is that the BIG 12 was also undefeated against the line! In case you do not know what I mean, if you had bet on the Big 12 in each game in Vegas, you would have won all six. Now that’s really impressive.

Oklahoma's Blake Griffin got into a scuffle with Morgan State's Ameer Ali, resulting in the second ejection of today's Kansas City regional. Griffin was behind Ali, boxing out on a long rebound, when Ali grabbed Griffin's arm and flipped him heels-over-head onto the floor. Ali was thrown out of the game. In the Clemson-Michigan game, the Tigers' Terrence Oglesby was ejected for throwing an intentional elbow at a player's head.

Griffin and Ali had also gotten into a minor scrape earlier, when Ali reached in while Griffin had the ball and appeared to swipe him across the face. Ali and Griffin then had words as they ran down the court, but that was several minutes before the incident that resulted in Ali's ejection.

Oasis.There's a big crowd here for the evening session and the Oklahoma fans haven't even filled up their sections yet. Michigan has a strong contingent of rooters on hand, while the Clemson section is in-filled with a lot of maroon and other non-school colors. I arrived late for this one and going into the half, Michigan has a surprising 27-24 lead. Clemson (68.3%) was a prohibitive favorite in this one.

Cal and Maryland are locked in a tight, if not overly aesthetic, contest, with the Terps up two late in the first half. The Maryland rooting section is right behind me and, apparently, they aren't too happy with the officiating in this contest. Not much has caught my eye in this one, except that Gary Williams has extended his defense after made baskets, going to a three-quarters court zone press that is straight from the playbook of my junior high coach. Going into the half, Maryland is up by three. From the first-half box score, a couple of things stand out. There have been 11 assists but 13 turnovers in the game. Plus, the teams have combined to go 23 for 65 (35.3 percent) from the floor. As I said, it's been competitive but sloppy.